


keep the change, ya filthy animal

by sithsapper



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Awesome Peter Parker, But also, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Flash Thompson Redemption, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, No Infinity War or Endgame, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, School Shootings, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, it sounds really dark but im trying to not make it dark?, we dont acknowledge those movies in this household
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 14:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18918502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sithsapper/pseuds/sithsapper
Summary: When news of Peter's internship gets out to the public, it leads to a lot more targets on the 15-year-old's head. Including a hit on Midtown High that shakes up the student population.Too bad no one got the memo that Peter Parker and his friends were a bunch of idiots who knew how to wield metal instruments and glass beakers as weapons.





	1. Chapter 1

Becoming Tony Stark’s personal intern had brought along a lot of perks. Getting paid was one of them. May needed the extra money and Mr. Stark had been more than willing to get him in cahoots with Pepper for a paid internship. Plus, Peter got to hang out with the genius a lot on lab days where he would tinker with suits or random projects. He had become really close to the man. Mr. Stark made snarky comments sometimes, but Peter knew it was his own way of showing care.

So yeah, it had been pretty nice to be able to grow closer to Tony.

On the other hand, there were negatives. There was the time he convinced Tony pleadingly (with puppy eyes and all) to go with him to get pizza at one of the best joints there was in New York City. They had been caught by a bozo with a camera that spread a social media wildfire. That led to a whole crowd of paparazzi right outside of the pizza place. Stark Industries simply launched a statement that Tony had only been having lunch with his personal intern.

Of course, the rumors still spread about Peter. It wasn’t long before his name and info were given to the public, even despite Pepper’s best approaches to keep it private. It was startling, to say the least, but at least Tony had promised they would stay far from his apartment and school. And honestly, with the threats spilling from his mouth of what he would do to anyone who strayed too close, Peter hoped that they did stay away, if only for their own sakes.

Even though the story had been big for a while and proved him as a true Stark Industries intern, there was still skepticism at school.

And by skepticism, he meant primarily Flash, who was sitting directly in front of him in physics class. There was a lot of taunting still. Who did Peter pay to play the part of Tony Stark, what did he have to do to get a fake internship, why was he so pathetic… nothing out of the norm, but still amazingly annoying.

Peter was chewing on the end of his pen, staring out the window at nothing in particular. A worksheet was in front of him that he knew he should have been working on. It was worth a fair amount of points but Peter had the confidence that it wouldn’t take him too long to complete… even if he did stare out the window for half of the period.

A scrape of a chair had his eyes darting up. Flash had turned around, his own paper crumpled in his hand as he reached for Peter’s own paper.

“Give me your paper,” he said, snatching the worksheet off Peter’s table (that was primarily blank).

Peter scowled, attempting to grab it back only to tear it down the middle. “I haven’t done it so look off of someone else’s.”

Flash snorted when Peter tore his own worksheet and shoved it back at him, much to Peter’s dismay. Damn. He should probably go get another one since this one was crumpled.

“To think Penis over here has an internship with Tony Stark when he can’t even do a simple physics worksheet. The evidence keeps pointing you out as a liar, Parker.”

It took a lot in Peter, every single time that Flash spoke, not to hit him. Because oh, it had definitely crossed his mind a time or two. Ned had pointed it out before that he would be able to take Flash down without a fight. He could probably knock him down a peg (or ten), but he wouldn’t. Spider-Man wouldn’t, and Peter was Spider-Man. So as much as he dreamed of shutting him up just for a while, he took it all in stride. Better him to get picked on than anyone else anyways.

Plus, he got his own revenge in secret. Flash was obsessed with Spider-Man, hence he was obsessed with Peter. Boom. Checkmate. He couldn’t help but grin to himself as he made his way to the front of the room to grab another piece of paper.

It was when he was approaching his seat that the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. A foot was held out in front of him to trip him. He easily overstepped it and looked out the window again, toward the front of the building. A black van was there now. Odd... but not completely suspicious.

Something had set off his senses and it wasn’t the designer shoe clad foot meant to trip him. The pranks that Flash pulled on him barely did much; he could sense them coming but they didn’t make him… nervous, not like this did.

He spun on his heel, listening desperately, but the clamor and talking of the classroom, among the dozens of other classrooms around the building, were too much for him to hear of anything else in the school. A fire? Pipe burst? A kid in trouble? What was it?

Frustration bubbled up in his chest. There was a tension gripping him that he couldn't ignore.

“You look like an idiot,” Flash snapped, clearly frustrated that his foot hadn’t had Peter falling over. "Sit down."

Peter waved a hand at him as an indicator to shut up. He stared back out the window at the van that had caught his attention before. “Be quiet.”

A chair scraped against the floor and Flash was up in an instant. He grasped the front of Peter's shirt, blocking his view of what was happening outside. “What do you mean, be quiet? What makes you think you can start bossing me around, Penis Parker?”

“Boys!” 

Peter flinched, looking toward the teacher in the front of the room. It was a substitute; their regular teacher had gotten the flu going around and hadn’t been in class for the last few days.

“What do you think you’re doing? Let go of him, and both of you sit down before I make you go to the front office.”

Flash let go in an instant. With a dirty glare in Peter’s direction, that was when he stated indignantly, “I didn’t do anything. It was Peter-”

Boom.

His words were cut off by a loud rumble from the floor below them and Peter stumbled when the floor shook, grabbing the side of the desk next to him. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit what was that-

In moments, total chaos erupted. Students were yelling, panicking, trying to look out the windows.

Peter wasn’t sure what it was that set him in motion. Adrenaline? Panic? Confidence? A mixture of all three, probably. Whatever it was, he was pushing past a few people in his way to the front of the classroom. “Calm down!” he tried to yell over the sound of everyone else. Jumping on the front desk, where their substitute was in shock, he yelled louder, “Sit down!”

It took a few seconds, but soon the students were quieting down. They didn’t sit, but they were staring at Peter with wide eyes. He jumped off the desk, heading to the classroom door.

A gunshot rang out, easy for his own hearing, but muffled to the other students of the classroom. Oh, god. His breath hitched. He had heard so many stories of school shootings happening, but it had never really… occurred to him that it could happen at Midtown.

He turned to the substitute, his eyes wide. “Lock the door, okay? Can you- just- lock it.”

The substitute stared at him stubbornly, pointing a finger toward the windows. “If that was an explosion, then that means there could be a fire in the building. We should leave-”

Screaming from downstairs had Peter’s breath hitching. He had to do something. He jumped over a few desks with ease, scrambling for his backpack. The suit, the suit! He opened it desperately. It had to be in there.

He tossed his binder out, papers spilling, then his textbook, then his folder. But the bright red that was supposed to be at the bottom of the bag wasn’t there. “No. No, no no no. Shit!” He cursed. He fumbled for his phone. No signal. Of course. He stood up to stare outside. The van’s doors were open. Whoever had been in there was in the school now.

A man stepped out from the back. He didn’t have a mask on, but instead, it was in his hands. He had a cold expression adorning his features that gave Peter chills. He sought out Peter immediately in the dozens of windows, staring at him, before slipping the mask on and making his way to the smoldering front doors of the school building.

This was bad. Oh, god.

He couldn’t reach Mr. Stark. He couldn’t get any help. All he had was some dull pencils in his backpack as weapons and a classroom full of screaming classmates.

Wait. Weapons. His web-shooters were under the lockers downstairs along with some stashed away web fluid. If he could get down there without being detected, he’d be armed. Then he could do something rather than wait upstairs like a sitting duck for whatever happened next.

“Stay here! And get down. Don’t open the door for anyone, alright? Hide.”

There was screaming after him, telling him to stay, but Peter was already rushing out the door. The last thing he saw was Flash, terrified, as Peter slammed the door behind him and made a mad dash. If anyone came in through the front of the school, then they wouldn’t be using side stairways. Maybe. He hoped not. God, he hoped not. 

He ran past teachers locked their doors, yelling at him to get inside a classroom. He ignored them all, easily clearing the set of stairs to the bottom. He crouched down, listening down the hall for anyone coming down.

His breath was coming in shallow pants, peeking around the stairwell, when a hand grasped his wrist.

Peter pulled his hand away with a yelp and was quick to lock the other person in a chokehold, planning to choke them out into unconsciousness. He wasn’t going to get caught, no sir, he had to make sure these men didn’t hurt anyone.

“P-Parker!”

Peter let go immediately and Flash dropped to the floor with a cough, glaring up from the floor. Peter spluttered, looking back up the stairwell. Hadn’t he specifically told them to stay in the classroom and hide? “What the hell are you doing down here? You need to be with the others! I told you-”

“You’re being an idiot and I came down here to get you. Before you killed yourself.”

“I don’t need you to save me. You need to just trust me that I know what I’m doing!”

Flash’s brows furrowed as he sat up, about to snap something back, when voices down the hall had him stopping short.

“Boss said the kid should be somewhere in the building. Round up any stragglers, use ‘em as hostages. We have five minutes.”

The kid. They were searching for someone in particular. Peter breathed out heavily. “Let’s go,” he hissed, pulling Flash up from the floor unceremoniously and dragged him down the hall. All the classroom doors were locked by now and he couldn’t just leave Flash to be a hostage, as much as he didn’t want him to tag along.

God help him keep his patience. And god help them both not get caught with Flash’s loud mouth.

They went down a side hall, toward the gym, where his stuff would be stashed. They were an old prototype of web shooters, but they would be able to get the job done. Peter glanced at Flash nervously. He couldn’t exactly get it out with him standing around.

“Hey, did you hear that? I think someone’s coming down this way,” Peter muttered. “Go down that hallway. I’ll be right after you, I just need to check down here.”

Flash stared at him incredulously. “Ch-check it for what? You’re not going to play the hero. You’ll get killed.”

Peter pushed him toward the hall he was talking about. “I’m not playing the hero. I’m just making sure no one’s still in the hallway. You heard those guys; they’re looking for people out in the halls like us for hostages. I’ll catch up to you. Just go, alright?”

There was hesitance in his face, but he finally turned away and started heading down the hallway Peter told him to. With a sharp exhale, he turned away and took quick steps down the hall toward the lockers where his web shooters would be. 

There wasn’t anyone in the proximity of where he was. He could hear some conversations from around the building along with the panic of the students left, but they were safe for the time being.

He lifted up the lockers, quiet as he could, and grabbed the web shooters and fluid. They should hide well under his jacket sleeves. Away from anyone’s view. More specifically Flash. Who he still had to get to safety and away from what was going on.

Peter stamped his foot down with a groan. Of all the people to get stuck with. Why not Ned, or MJ, or anyone else who had a clue what to do. Of course Ned got put in band this period instead of physics with Peter.

Wait, wait, hold on. The band room. Ned was probably in there with the rest of the class. There was a storage room that Peter was sure they would be hiding in. The doors would probably be locked, though, which meant they needed a key into the band room itself. Or some other way of getting in, and unless Peter was ready to knock the doors down, he couldn’t think of anything. But if he could get Flash in there, it would be a better hiding spot than running all the way back to where most of the classrooms were, where they wouldn’t open the door for anyone who came knocking.

He was quick to slip on the web shooters. Okay, okay, that was a whole lot better. A sense of security washed over Peter, his fingers fumbling to adjust the web shooters as he went back to the hall he told Flash to go down. A set of restrooms were to his right, and there was another hall that split off farther down that would lead them in the direction of the band room. Flash was just a bit farther down. He saw Peter coming down and raised his hand. “Find anyone?” he called, rather loudly. Like, too loud. Loud enough that someone could have heard them.

And someone did. Peter groaned, rolling his eyes mentally as he heard men calling out to each other about someone they heard down one of the halls. But he had no time to reprimand Flash when they only had a minute tops to hide before becoming hostages themselves. The bathrooms were right next to him still, and he pointed at them, hissing, “Get in here!”

Flash was quick to obey, which in all honesty was pretty relieving because Peter had expected him to argue or run away

They went into the closest bathroom to them and pushed the door shut, locking it behind them.

“Oh god,” Flash mumbled, running his hands through his hair. “Oh no. I should have stayed in the classroom. I’m gonna die.”

“You’re going to get us both killed if you keep this up,” Peter hissed, his back pressed to the door.

“The three of us, actually.”

Cindy stepped out from one of the stalls, her hands shaking. “Don’t get me killed along with you two hare brains. I was hiding just fine until you came running in here. Please, please don’t tell me you have anyone following you.”

Peter glared at Flash for a moment before standing up straight, walking away from the door. “So long as they don’t look in the bathrooms, uh, yeah. I guess so.”

Cindy sighed, sitting down heavily on the floor. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail it had been in to twist it around her fingers. “My phone isn’t working. Are yours?”

Peter shook his head, coming to sit down next to her. “No. But the school is right on the main road, so someone should have noticed the smoke by now. Police should be coming any minute.”

Cindy puffed out her cheeks, a crease between her eyebrows, but didn’t respond. Flash was still standing but had migrated to the sinks.

If they waited out the few more minutes, then most of the men should have cleared out. They could get out, head to the band room. Or maybe the bathrooms would still be safe. Hopefully. Then Cindy and Flash could hide, and Peter would be able to escape under some kind of half-hearted excuse.

He looked over, noticing the gleam in Cindy’s hair. A bobby pin. Couldn’t those pick locks?

A crackle over the loudspeaker had the three of them flinching, Flash covering his ears and Cindy grabbing Peter’s arm tightly.

“Good afternoon, Midtown High!” The voice was mocking, high pitched. “Sorry the announcements aren’t so cheery today, but I have just one for Peter Parker, intern of Tony Stark. I have a deal for you, kid. I have a few of your friends here tied up. None of us want to hurt ‘em, because killing a child is even a little bit demented for us. But we won’t hesitate if we don’t get what we want.”

Of course. They were after him because of Mr. Stark, because of Peter’s internship. And everyone else just turned into collateral. They were going to use his friends against him, and then him against Tony once they had Peter.

“And look, I know that wherever you’re hiding, you probably won’t be able to leave. Or you don’t want to. So I’ll give you a very wide time frame, which is generous because we are on a very slim time frame ourselves before the police try and barge in. So, the time is 1:32 pm exactly. You have until 2:02 pm before I shoot every one of your friends here in the head, and set off some bombs placed across the school. No show, a lot of people die. You come, those people survive. We’ll be waiting at the front office, Parker. Don’t disappoint.”

The loudspeaker cut off and the hands that held his arm shook him, Cindy staring at him with wide eyes. “Peter, what are you going to do?”

Good question. Peter had no idea.

“Take them down,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Flash shook his head. “Nuh uh. No. I’m not dying today. Turn yourself in.”

“Flash!” Cindy cried, staring at him with eyes that were angry.

“I could, but I think the next best option is to make sure everyone survives,” Peter responded, not shaken by Flash’s willingness to sacrifice him. Hell, he was actually considering giving himself up, but he knew how these things worked. “These kinds of guys are ruthless. They’re not just going to go quietly.”

“But you have no way to take them down. Don’t act like you’re some kind of hero. You’re a wimp, Parker. You can’t even stand up to me.”

There was a jiggle at the door. “It’s locked! There’s gotta be someone in here. Help me knock it down.” Someone was trying to get in.

Cindy and Peter scrambled to their feet, Cindy standing a half-step behind Peter. Flash disappeared into one of the stalls with a tiny ‘meep’, the door locking behind him.

Peter pressed a single finger to his mouth, to tell Cindy to be quiet, and pointed to the stall for her to hide. She nodded slowly and hid alongside Flash, the door shut behind her too. Peter slipped behind the wall, waiting for the door to come down.

It was a minute or two, but finally, the slamming against the door gave way. Peter pursed his lips, pressed flat against the wall as he waited for whoever it was to enter the doorway. At least two of them, Peter knew.

His arm flew out to punch the first man in the nose once he rounded the corner. The man staggered back, grabbing his nose, but Peter didn’t hesitate. He swept his legs out from under him and watched as his head slammed into the wall with a heavy thud. Ouch, that was going to hurt later.

A second man came hurtling at him, either unaware of who Peter was or uncaring. “I’ll kill you, you little brat!” Peter rolled out of the way of the hands that went to grab him. He jumped up, wrapping an arm around the man’s neck in the same way he had Flash earlier when he surprised him.

“I hit my growth spurt like, last summer, man,” Peter complained. “I’m not a ‘little’ anything.”

The joke didn’t settle well with the masked man and he reached up to grab Peter’s hair, making him hiss and let go of his neck. Ouch, okay, that was a little much.

 

“Isn’t that an illegal move in wrestling?!” Peter snapped, trying to pull away without pulling all his hair out. “Let’s play fair, buddy!”

Playing fair was probably the last thing on this guys mind. Peter managed to untangle himself and landed on his feet, hands coming up as fists in front of his face, his stance wide. The other man whirled around and Peter took his couple seconds opening to knee the guy directly in the groin.

He doubled over immediately and Peter took his elbow into the back of his neck, knocking him out.

With a breathless laugh, he muttered, “That’s my purse. I don’t know you.”

Behind him, he heard Cindy scoff and turned to see her and an emerging Flash staring at the two men down.

“Did you really just- just quote a stupid meme after taking these guys out? By yourself? Oh my god, Peter. Are you secretly a ninja?” Cindy was amazed, staring at the two men.

“Not a ninja. Just uh, trained. In the ninja ways.” Yow. That didn’t sound too convincing. “Come on, it’s not safe in here anymore.”

He stepped over the unconscious bodies. If they kept heading down the hall, then they would come across the band room. “Hey, Cindy. Your bobby pins- they can pick locks, right?”

Cindy nodded, slipping one from her hair. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

Peter pointed down the hall. “The band room. It would be a lot safer, especially if you barricade the door with some of the equipment. Bass drums, chairs, whatever the hell you find. Everyone else might be hiding where they store all the instruments.”

Walking out of the doorway, Peter made it a few feet before he spotted someone coming around the corner. Someone who had a gun. Who saw him standing there, Cindy and Flash right behind him.

He grinned wickedly. “Don’t move, kids. Or else someone’s going to get shot.”

No one was getting shot on Peter’s watch. The man neared, time slowed down, Flash moved. The gun moved toward Flash, a finger sliding toward the trigger.

Peter didn’t give him the chance. He raised his hand and pressed a trigger of his own; his web shooters pinned the man with the gun to the wall behind him and his gun fell from his grasp. For good measure (and to keep him from talking), he made sure his face was covered. The guy could still breathe, Peter was sure of it, but the last thing they needed was someone giving away their location.

“Holy shit.”

Peter spun around, staring at Flash, who pointed a finger at him. “No way. You-”

“I just saved your ass. Now let’s go,” Peter hissed, looking behind his shoulder where the man had come from. “Before any more of them come.”

Flash continued to stumble over his own words, trying to piece it all together, but Cindy laughed.

“That. That was wicked.”

Peter grinned warily. Damn. The cat was out of the bag now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know. I honestly... don't know what this fic turned into, lol. It's still got its serious side, because school shootings are a harsh subject, and especially bad these days. But like, originally it was going to be a whole bunch of angst. And then I was like no no no, wait. What if a whole bunch of students are idiots, but good idiots, and fought back? It's basically Home Alone. Except... Spider-Man style. Surprise.
> 
> Tony, Ned, and Michelle aren't in this chap, of course, but expect them to appear soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark’s Thursday morning followed a routine he had developed on days that Pepper hadn't scheduled him to do boring adult stuff.

Wake up early after too few hours of sleep, chug a few cups of scalding hot coffee, then head down to his lab to immerse himself for hours until Pepper pulled him away from his latest project.

It seemed Peter had learned from Pepper, too. The kid would come in for his weekly lab sessions with Tony and they’d tinker for hours until the kid’s grumbly stomach announced that it was time for dinner. He’d make a teasing remark about Peter’s fast metabolism and having to order three pizzas for him alone that made the boy blush, but they ordered their food anyways. They’d settle onto the couch and put on whatever weird movie Peter wanted to watch that night, takeout in their hands. And finally, when the credits rolled, he would usher the kid off and back home with a “get that homework done before patrol, Pete, and be in before curfew” as well as a “be safe” thrown in there.

Pepper said he was being paternal. Tony shrugged and said that someone had to look out for the twerp.

He tightened a bolt on his latest project before letting the wrench clatter onto the counter. A look at his primarily empty and cold coffee cup told him it was time to take a break just to get some caffeine back in his system. A dismayed sigh escaped him as he swirled the mug to make sure the dregs of coffee weren’t too gross and threw it back.

Refill time.

He stood up from his stool with a grunt, stretching out his back. God, he needed to stop stooping so low when he sat. Though, most of his projects required it. He needed to buy an adjustable chair. Getting old just wasn’t doing it for him.

As he was refilling his cup, swiping through his phone to look at some emails that had come up, FRIDAY’s voice filled the kitchen.

“Boss, you may want to look at this breaking news. Sending to your phone now.”

With a raised eyebrow, Tony snatched the coffee mug’s handle as he opened the news articles FRIDAY sent over.

_BREAKING NEWS_   
_Reports of Explosion and Shots Fired at Midtown Tech_

Tony choked on his coffee in his mouth, spluttering as it dripped out of his mouth and back into the cup. He slammed it down, dark liquid sloshing over the sides and onto the counter. “Turn on the TV, FRI,” he said as he raced into the living room, staring at the large screen on the wall. This had to be a prank. A horrible, awful prank.

On the screen, the news anchors appeared. Both wore somber expressions as the same title he had seen on the news article scrolled beneath them. Fuck. So it hadn’t been a fake article.

“Call Peter, FRIDAY. Now.” His voice was urgent, strained, needing to get a sense of what was happening from the kid himself.

“Call failed. Signal seems to have been cut off in a quarter-mile radius of the school-”

The voice of the female news anchor interrupted FRIDAY and Tony shushed the AI, his hands coming to grasp the back of the couch so tight that his fingers were white. 

“Breaking news coming from Queens this afternoon as police are currently responding to reports coming from Midtown School of Science and Technology. Authorities have confirmed that there was an explosion at the front doors of the school and that there are currently hostiles inside. It is unclear how many are in there or if anyone is injured. Some witnesses reported that they couldn’t use their cell phones in the area immediately surrounding the school. The signal surrounding the school has been blocked by something unknown. We will continue to provide coverage on this news story as it happens.”

“Fuck,” Tony breathed, staring as the news anchors continued about Midtown, showing a helicopter’s view of the school’s outside. A single black van was outside, nearly hidden by the smoke rising from the front doors, while two identical vans were on the complete other sides of the school. The camera couldn’t see inside the building, but one thing was clear; this had to have been a planned attack and coordinated. And who would plan a random attack on a school like Midtown? They were looking for something and Tony had a feeling of what it was- or rather, who it was.

His kid was in there. Other children were in there. His heart pounded in fear at not knowing whether Peter was alright or not. He may have freaky powers but his identity was a secret. And the kid was a self-sacrificing idiot- unfortunately, most like Tony himself. If it came down to protecting his secret or protecting his friends, he would protect his friends without a doubt. Tony knew him well enough.

He couldn’t let Peter get hurt. A fury crawled up his throat at the thought. He knew it was time to kick into action and blast some of these bastards to hell.

“FRI, tell Pepper I might not be back in time for her dinner with the contractors. Tell Happy to contact May and pick her up. I’m heading to Midtown.” He was already moving outside as he made his demands, a hand tapping his chest as nanoparticles swarmed him.

________________

While the world outside Midtown had no idea who was behind the attack or their reasoning, the students and staff inside waited nervously at the clock continued to tick down.

Since he had knocked out the entirety of three guys, five minutes had passed. Five of their thirty minute window of time. Twenty-five minutes remained and with every second that ticked by, Peter was getting more nervous. He was trying to keep some faith, but first, he had to get Cindy and Flash out of any danger.

Which was where they were now, peeking around a corner with the band room just barely in sight.

The band room was right down the hall. The small, rectangular windows that showed inside were pitch black and, with any luck, those who should be in there were hiding in the storage room as they had always practiced.

“I still can’t believe you did that. How did you get your hands on that sort of tech-”

Peter smacked his hand over Flash’s mouth, trying his best not to think about duct taping it shut. “You realize that the more you talk, the more of a chance we have of getting caught, right?” When he only received a furrowed brow look from the other boy, he sighed and let his hand drop. “Just keep quiet until I can get you to safety, alright?”

His companions seemed nervous by his wording, exchanging a look, but he ignored them as he stooped low and began a light-footed trek to the band room. The doors were at the very end of the hall, a complete dead end.

He waved Cindy forward, pointing to the doors, and she was quick to join him and get to work. A bobby pin slipped out of her hair and she began to work the lock quickly and quietly, a look of concentration on her face.

Peter wasn’t sure how or why she had ever learned to pick door locks but in the present moment, he wasn’t going to question it when it came in handy. Standing over her, he kept watch down the hallway for any intruders. Everything in the immediate area, apart from Flash’s muttering about “how does Peter Parker shoot webs? He’s not Spider-Man, he’s a dweeb-”, was quiet.

A quiet click of the door handle meant that Cindy had managed to open it, in a time that suggested she was _really_ good at this lock picking thing. Peter raised an eyebrow but she shrugged, opening the door for Peter to slip inside first and check the room.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose.

The whoosh of wind greeted his ears and he spun around as a glint of metal came swinging down toward his head. He reached up to meet it, keeping what looked to be a trumpet from slamming into his skull and knocking him out. “Oh my god- stop- wait!” he gasped when the attacker went to pull it out of his grasp, most likely to try and hit Peter again.

The instrument lowered and when it was clear, no metal bells or valves coming to give him a concussion, Peter allowed himself to look at the person in action.

Who happened to be no other than Ned himself, his wide eyes staring at Peter. “Oh my god- Peter!” he hissed, grabbing the door and shutting it behind them all before promptly having a meltdown. “You scared me. I thought you were a bad guy and I was going to try to knock someone out, because I heard the door jiggling, and I couldn’t get a hold of you because my phone isn’t working-”

Peter slapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder, knowing that he was probably freaking out just as the rest of the school was. “Ned, it’s okay.” Then, turning slowly, he noticed that it was just Ned. “Where’s the rest of the class?”

“They went to the gym to practice marching in place. Mr. Kim said something about always marching offbeat, so I came back to get my trumpet when…” He trailed off, making a crude explosion noise and a motion that similarly expressed what happened. “Then the announcement happened and-” His eyes shifted over to Cindy and Flash who were watching intently. “You’re not… uh, well, going to let them have you, are you?”

With a scratch on the back of his neck, Peter said, “I mean, no…? It’s not part of the plan right now.” There wasn’t a plan set in place anyways. He had no idea what he was going to do about their untimely visitors. 

Was it bad that he was kind of glad this got him out of his chem test?

No, focus, Peter. That was bad. Psychotic kidnappers threatening his classmates was not an excuse for demented humor. At least, until the situation was safe. Then he’d make all the jokes he could. It was a good coping method.

“Okay, well, first off- Cindy, Flash, this is where we part.”

“Look, I know you have those cool… whatever they are,” Cindy started, gesturing toward his wrists where the web shooters remained, “but I don’t know why you’re trying to go out there alone. That’s practically suicide. Especially if they catch you.”

A glance toward Flash meant the sentiment wasn’t shared. In fact, the other boy was already slipping farther into the room’s shadows, desperate to hide from any danger.

Peter adamantly shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ve got my- I mean, uh, a prototype of Spider-Man’s web shooters. I’ve practiced with them in the lab before. I got this.”

There was a lack of trust in Cindy’s expression.

Ned, on the other hand, looked ecstatic. He knew about Peter’s abilities, after all. “You got this, Peter. Whatever you need to do, I support it.”

“Thanks, Ned,” Peter flashed his friend a smile, peeking out the door. “You guys need to hide. Barricade the door until it’s safe, alright?” And with that, he slipped out, creeping down the hall again.

___________________________ 

The halls remained quiet. It was strange, he thought to himself as he peered down yet another hallway. There should be people roaming around, searching for hostages and Peter himself. Maybe if he crawled into the vent system, he’d get a better view and have some time to think up a plan.

But then again, the vents were probably small and dusty. Getting through them would be more of a hassle. So long as he kept sneaking around-

There was a momentary _screech_ that interrupted his thought process.

“Ten minutes have passed, Peter Parker. I’m almost tempted to start picking off some of your classmates but I restrained myself. I’m a man who keeps his word, after all. Twenty more minutes and chaos will erupt. Chop chop, kid.”

The announcement cut off as quickly as it had begun and Peter groaned, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Okay. Twenty minutes. He could work under the time pressure. He was across the school, away from the front office that the hostages were. He had to get in unnoticed, or at least lure enough of them away. A distraction, he needed a-

Footsteps. He could hear some wandering his way with their loud pounding as shoe tread hit the tile. Two pairs, no- three. They weren’t speaking.

Peter ran.

“Do you hear something?” one of them asked, quiet, as Peter’s feet hit the floor, passing by halls in a desperate attempt to put as much space between him and these guys as possible.

Parker luck struck as he came to the end of the hall, slipping in his haste to get around the corner.

It was a dead end.

He couldn’t turn around now, not without giving away his location and having to fight all three of these guys. They were nearing now and he was at a disadvantage. He rushed toward the set of doors at the end of the hall, pulling down on the handle in an attempt to open it. He wasn’t sure what lay beyond them, honestly.

“Hey! You!”

Peter spun around. There, three men stood, guns drawn and trained directly on him.

Aw, man.

“Hands up or we shoot. And we won’t hesitate.”

One of the men, shorter in stature but not lacking in muscle, began to creep forward. The other two blocked off the hallway.

“I was looking for the bathroom,” Peter began, raising his hands in a surrender motion. His eyes searched for weaknesses, points where he could take them out or escape. “I really gotta pee.”

The man advancing toward him scoffed. The closer he came, the more details Peter could make out. The way his finger twitched, ready to move to the trigger at any moment. A crease in between his eyebrows. A scar above his lip, sliding just past his nose onto his cheek. “Looks like you’ll have to wait, kid. No bathroom breaks in the middle of a hostage situation.”

“That’s a shame,” Peter mumbled, allowing him to get closer. “I drank at least four energy drinks earlier. You sure I can’t just go real quick?”

A hitch in one of the men’s breath had him gazing past the one advancing. He was focused intently on Peter like there was something important about him. He turned to the other man standing next to him. “Isn’t that Stark’s-?”

Peter didn’t give him a chance to finish the question.

With a thwip, a web came from his wrist and encased the hands of the man in front of him while the gun fell to the floor with a clatter. He pulled back roughly, allowing the man to stumble forward and trip over his feet. Peter raised his knee to meet his falling face and the man groaned in pain, rolling over as he brought webbed hands to his bleeding nose.

The other two men yelled in alarm and raised their guns once more. A shot rang out and nearly deafened him. He gasped, wanting to cover his ears at the sound of it in such close proximity, the way it sounded in the closed-off hallway. Peter dodged the bullet itself easily, rolling along the floor into a dusty alcove where the water fountains sat. There was another shot, whirling past him and embedding itself into the wall across from him.

Okay, shit. He was stuck in this hiding spot now. If he tried to peek out, he’d probably get a face full of bullets. If he tried to run, he’d also get a lot of bullets shot at him. His only chance would be to blindly aim and fire, but that was if he could find an opening between the number of shots being fired at him.

The constant sense of danger in the back of his mind didn’t help either. He knew that he was in the middle of danger and the anxiety the sense brought made his palms sweaty. He brushed his palms against his jeans quickly.

There was a pause. The sound of clicking. They were reloading.

He immediately whirled around the corner, a hand outstretched toward the taller of the two men. A web shot forward and caught his feet, keeping him from being able to move. He tilted back and forth, a surprised yelp coming from him as he fought to stay balanced and upright.

Before long he was falling forward and Peter shot another web at his hands, locking them to the ground, too, before he could recover. “Timber!” he yelled excitedly.

A shot rang out in the hall and Peter ducked once again, clenching his fists. Whoops. Okay, right, focus. He just had to get the upper hand on this guy. Maybe if he crawled up the wall, just a bit-

Slowly, ignoring the gunfire that continued to grate on his senses, he climbed up a few feet and waited until there was another pause. He didn’t listen for the click, for the sound of a reload. Time was of the essence.

He leaned around the corner, stretching out a hand. He hit the trigger-

Nothing.

Frantically, he hit it again, and again, and again.

Each time, it made the same sad noise. A far cry from the usual thwip noise it created.

His mind screamed at him. _Danger._

A bullet whirled through the air and hit his shoulder.

With a muted cry, he fell back from the wall and harshly onto the ground. He clasped one hand over the injury, red already seeping through the tatter of his sleeve, and pushed himself back into the alcove farther to try and create a Plan B.

One of the web shooters was jammed. Just one. Chances of the other one being stuck too- well, they were just too low. There was no way.

A glance down at his shoulder, toward the stinging, had him exhaling shakily. The bullet had only grazed him, though the cut was rather deep. He could work with it, for now, he thought to himself. It could have been a lot worse.

With his left hand nervously pressed against the trigger, he realized that there hadn’t been any more gunshots. Was the man waiting? Maybe he was going to wait for Peter to come out.

On second thought, Peter could hear footsteps approaching. Maybe he would flush him out, or just shoot him right there if he got close enough.

He had a short window of time and it was only getting shorter the longer he sat there. Peter couldn’t hide any longer and he knew that. Getting shot was a small price to save a lot of lives. His healing factor would help him.

Er… probably.

He stood up, pressing himself against the wall. The footsteps sounded farther away than he remembered but he couldn’t be bothered to think too deeply about it. He might have a chance.

Launching himself out of his hiding spot, he immediately made a dive for the floor, pressing the trigger for the other web shooter.

_Click. Click._

Peter stared in terror at the useless gadget. No, no no no. Parker luck was shitty, that much was obvious. But _come on_ , both of his web shooters?!

There was mocking laughter down the hall. “Looks like you’re out of luck. Say goodnight-”

Metal clanged as it hit the man’s skull. His eyes rolled back and he slumped to the floor, loose limbs and head tilted down until his chin hit his chest.

Ned stood behind him, a tinny, silver euphonium still raised above his head. Cindy stood right behind him, peeking out from behind with a saxophone tightly held in her hands.

There were moments that Peter knew his friends were awesome. Like at decathlon practice when Betty would bring cookies for the whole team or in class when Ned and he would geek out about a new Lego set they couldn’t wait to build. This was a whole new level of awesome. Like, as awesome as the time Ned had used his web shooters the night of Homecoming to save him. “Holy _shit!”_ he gasped, jumping up (and ignoring the pain in his arm). “That was amazing!”

Ned’s face lit up with glee he couldn’t contain. “I know, right?! I can’t believe this ugly thing could be so useful as a weapon! I was going to grab a tuba, but it was way too big to carry around the school and Cindy was rushing me to follow you-”

“By the way, good job going out there alone,” she interjected monotonously. “You did well on your own.” Her gaze locked in on his shoulder in particular and the way he clutched at it with blood seeping through.

Peter laughed nervously. “This? It’s just a little scratch.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I’m pretty sure all that shooting caught the attention of a lot of people. Namely, bad people. We gotta blast,” Cindy said, looking around nervously. “Or else we’ll have a part two on our hands.”

“Yeah. I’ll pass on that,” Ned said, turning on his heel with the now dented euphonium still clutched in his hands.

They ran, substituting main halls for side halls until they had managed to get a good distance between them and the scene they had just been at.

As Peter took a moment to survey their surroundings, he realized exactly where they were at. This was the science wing of the school. A lot of chemistry classrooms were just down the hall, and his web shooters... 

“We need to get into one of the classrooms,” Peter said urgently. “Cindy, you still have your bobby pin?”

The girl shook her head. “No, I- I dropped it after we got into the band room. I mean, it’s not like I knew we were going to break into more than one room!”

Peter bit on his lower lip and turned, desperate for something to finally counteract his Parker luck. One of the chemistry rooms had its light on. He could see it through the bottom of the door. If he got closer, he would be able to peek through the little window by the handle and deem if it was safe to enter.

He waved his friends to follow as he got closer to the door, crouching as low as he could get to avoid being seen from any other classrooms. Once they reached the door, he stood up enough to grasp the ledge of the window and peek inside.

A head of frizzy curls and a head of blonde could be seen cornered near the teacher’s desk. A gunman was standing in front of them and Peter couldn’t see much more. He pursed his lips, trying to get a better view from where he crouched. In an attempt to stand up, his head knocked against the glass and he ducked back down.

“Shit!” he gasped, trying to usher Ned and Cindy away.

“What was that?” he heard from inside.

Then, there was the sound of glass shattering and Peter was up again, staring into the small window.

He gasped, wiggling the door handle immediately. It didn’t budge.

MJ looked up from where she was standing over the prone masked man. Her eyebrows rose in surprise and Betty squeaked at the noise, ducking down in fear that it was another gunman at the door.

With quick strides, MJ crossed the room and unlocked the door. “The hell are you losers doing out here?” she hissed, ushering them in and away from the little window.

Ned whistled lowly at the state of the guy on the ground. Glass shards were scattered around him and he pointed at it, ignoring her question. “What-”

“I used a beaker,” she said with a sigh, looking out the window with a disguised nervousness. Betty had risen from her defensive position, tears brimming in her eyes at seeing that it was only her teammates. “Anyone have something to cover this window with? We don’t need anyone finding us next.” She locked the door again and took the sweater Cindy offered, stuffing it into the window and used a little duct tape to make sure it stayed. “Anyways- like I asked, what the hell are you three doing out in the middle of the hallway? Why are you bleeding?”

“What were you and Betty doing in here with a gunman?” Peter countered. MJ gave him an exasperated look.

“Not like I asked for him to find us, genius,” she said with a sigh, walking toward one of the stools and sat down heavily. “We couldn’t find anywhere to hide when the shooting began. We were doing fine hiding until Betty screamed at a mop in the closet.”

Betty protested feebly, “It fell on me!”

MJ sent her a half-hearted glare. “So we got caught. Your turn, dork.”

Peter had to admit, he was really glad that MJ was taking it well. As in, still managing to insult him even though she just had a gun pointed in her face.

“It’s a long story and I don’t have the time. I have a whole fourteen minutes until guys try to kill a bunch of my classmates and my web shooters are jammed and there are still a whole bunch of bombs around the school and I don’t even know where!” Peter squinted, staring at the web shooters. The residue of web fluid could be seen. They were practically useless at this point and he didn’t have enough time to find a solution to clear out the gunk. If that would even work, anyways.

Betty raised a shaky hand. “I think I may have a solution.” She was crouched down next to the prone man, reaching hesitantly for a piece of paper in his pocket. Once she grasped it lightly, she jumped back with an ‘eep’ and ran around the desk to the rest of the group. “It’s a map. And it’s marked. I-I think it’s the bomb locations.”

Peter snatched it, searching the paper. She was right. Three locations, each where a crowd of students could be. One at the doors of the gym, one at the doors of the library, and another at the doors of the auditorium.

“Shit,” Ned whispered, repeating the exact thing Peter himself was thinking.

“I have to take these out first,” Peter said with certainty. “These could hurt a lot of people and if I can prevent just a few deaths…” He frowned as he trailed off. “Then we can worry about what to do with the front office situation. One thing at a time.”

MJ looked uncertain. “None of us know how to defuse a bomb, Parker. That’s a Hollywood thing.”

“Isn’t it a red wire?” Cindy piped up from where she had gone to stand by Betty, the two of them clinging to each other.

MJ and Peter shook their heads at the same time. “That’s baloney,” he said, having seen a fair share of bombs in his Spider-Man career. “It depends on what type of bomb it is to decipher how you have to take it out. It’s not as simple as a red or blue wire. But there are no professionals that can do this right now and someone has to.” He was the professional, he thought to himself. Spider-Man was the professional.

A hand caught his wrist. “Parker,” MJ said sharply. “You’re missing my point. How do you defuse a bomb? You can’t. You’re one person and a high school student, at that. Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not!” he insisted, pulling away from her grasp. “I’m trying to save people! They’re in trouble because of me. And even if I give myself over, what happens when the bombs go off and they’re killed anyways? It’s the least I can do to try.”

He turned his back on everyone in the room, walking toward the supply closet. It held all the chemicals they used in class as well as the safety equipment. Lab coats, gloves, goggles. They would be useless if the bomb were to explode on him. But a little safety was better than none, he tried to rationalize.

A hand reached past him for one of the coats. “Sorry, Peter,” Ned said with a slightly nervous smile. “Can’t let you go without your guy in the chair.”

“Ned, I can’t ask you to-”

MJ leaned against the doorway of the closet. “You’re not asking any of us to do anything. Besides, I’ve been dying to get my hands on some of these chemicals. I read some dumb article on ‘Home Alone’ ways to dummy-proof a house from robbers when you’re on vacation. I think they would work very well in this situation Anyone see any oil?” She stooped down to start searching.

Betty and Cindy joined her search. “Tell us what you need,” Cindy said, sounding and looking far more confident than Betty was.

“We’ll get a headstart on those bombs,” Peter said once Ned had geared up. “We’ll head from west to east. So, starting with the auditorium.”

MJ hummed her approval and spared a glance amid her frantic search. “Don’t die.”

Classic MJ style. He shouldn’t have expected anything less from her. “Thanks,” he said flatly but couldn’t help a quirk of his lips. “C’mon, Ned, we have to hurry.”

_________________

“Boss, something’s interfering with my power.”

Tony had just entered the quarter-mile radius of Midtown after flying his way from the compound. Just as he entered the area the signal for cell phones had gone out, his repulsors started losing their power. It started with a fall and a jerk back into the air, then another fall longer this time.

“Fuck. Alright, FRI, keep the power going as long as you can. Long enough to get to the ground without crashing.”

Just a few yards above the football field of Midtown, the Iron Man suit lost complete power and Tony went sprawling to the ground. He groaned, standing up slowly as he tried to ignore the aches and pains that came with the rough landing. Growing old… it didn’t suit him.

He tapped his chest and the particles peeled back. 

The smell of smoke assaulted his nose and he crinkled it, a nauseous feeling stirring in Tony’s gut as he looked up. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done a mission without his suit. The Mandarin had been… an interesting run. But he had weapons. Right now, all he had was a useless suit.

His eyes swept the outside of the school until they landed on one of the vans.

Huh. It wouldn’t hurt to see if they left behind any weapons there. 

He had to get inside the school, the main priority. Rebooting FRIDAY or cutting off whatever was causing the suit’s power would be helpful. An EMP? Yet the lights inside the school were on, and the officers surrounding the scene were tapping uselessly at the phones. No, not an EMP. It had to be something personal. Something directed at him.

That was all he needed to confirm it for himself.

Whoever was in that school was after Peter.

After his kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter? finally?   
> indeed, friends. after a long time trying to write but not feeling it, I finally managed to do this.
> 
> I may change how many chapters this will be. I don't want to extend it a lot, but I know what I want to write and I'm getting impatient with chapter length. Depending on how much I write for future chapter(s), the number of chapters for this story may or may not change.
> 
> also. as everyone has probably heard by now. sony/disney are messes. tom holland and peter parker and mcu spiderman, in general, deserves better. tony stark didnt die for this bullshit. thanks for coming to my ted talk.
> 
> so anyways. yeah. here's the chapter. we saw a bit of tony, but he's really going to appear next chapter a loooot. bewareeeeee. im so excited for some irondad let's go.


End file.
